Share your dollar stretching tips
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been running special segments called “Stretch Your Dollar” in an effort to help you make the most of your money in your everyday life. See some of our favorites after the jump.
One of the tips I honestly did not know about was our segment about checking your chicken for liquid infusion, which can lead to consumers being charged for extra broth to give the appearance of a plumper bird.
Other tips are more well-known, such as regularly maintaining your car and using online means to price down your vacations, but now we want to hear from you. You can submit in one of two ways: leave a comment to this post or e-mail your tips to stretchyourdollar@ksat.com. How about doing both, though, just to make sure everybody can see your dollar-stretching ideas.
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May 9, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I’ll go to different stores and look for meat items that are on sale/ as long as they have not reached expiration date – they’re MINE – they go straight into my freezer for use at a later date.
If I have alot of something – I’ll set up some plates and make my own ‘TV’ dinners / so this saves time, electric or gas energy, as well electricity used for air-conditioning to cool the house down after all that cooking.
I’ve stopped buying soft drinks and making a Sugar-Free Mix and making my own. This gets us off the soft drink kick @ almost 3.00+ for a 3 liter soda to 1 package to make 3 gallons of Raspberry Tea etc…Talk about saving money and losing weight..
—- OH and by the way! I started taking the bus, this is the 2nd week I’m doing this – I’m shaping up, losing weight – and find myself less stress because VIA does the High Price of Gas worrying and Road Rage handling for me!!
When I do take my car – we have a road plan and make a big circle – no traveling back and forth —
So I don’t know if this is what you mean by stretching my dollars – but for me it works -Good Luck and
GOD BLESS AMERICA – YA’LL
May 9, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I travel nearly 60 miles round trip to work daily. Knowing that there were other teachers at my school in my area, I suggested we carpool. We are now sharing a ride between four people. The amount of gas and money we’ve saved over the past couple of weeks has been highly noticable. It is nice to get to know people we probably wouldn’t have had much of a chance to get to know too!
May 21, 2008 at 11:00 am
My husband and I have changed all of the light bulbs in the house to energy efficient bulbs. We also bought a clothes line and I have not used the dryer since January. Our kilowatts were over 1700 a month we have reduced them to 600 a month.We also keep our air conditioner at 80 degrees, and use cieling fans. The savings have been great. Trudy Bahr 5-21-08
May 21, 2008 at 12:41 pm
my opinion about all this dung about saving money and finding ways to save will only benifit the household– but even that is not enough. you can change light bulbs, use toilet paper instead of kotex and brush your teeth with alcohol instead of toothpaste. BUT we’ll end up using more to replace what we think we saved. one of us can save money but you’re gonna put what you saved on the CPS bill. the mayor wanted 5%. we need to thank the mayor for his failed request to raise ur bill up. what i’m trying to say is we can’t save money if we save something else comes up. we are people. we live to survive like animals do. some good advise though. is to cheat. i know its wrong, but in this kind of life we live—we have to make ends meet
May 24, 2008 at 9:55 am
Dear Gentlemen:
What can a person do to cope with the lastest deplorable high price of
gasoline?
The answer: Drive 55 m.p.hr. on the Local SA expressways and you’ll be
surprized you will save alot of gas. Two: When you can don’t use your AC
only when it is absolutely necessary in the express way only.
June 23, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Get yourself a Walmart gift card. Use that gift card at Walmart/Murphy USA gas staions and get 3 cents off per gallon. They are usually 5-10 cents cheaper than the others to begin with.
July 1, 2008 at 10:30 pm
One way that I help my family stretch our dollars is to hang laundry outside. I do not use the dryer. I simply went to the dollar store picked up a pack of clips and started hanging our clothes outside. I keep our intimates inside on a rack in the wash room but everything else especially jeans go outside. With the natural heat of our sun, clothes dry in 30 minutes or less. It saves us atleast $30 a month on our energy bill.
July 4, 2008 at 8:59 am
Get off your butt and ride a bike or walk to the grocery store, friends house, or etc. Not only will it save you gas money, but it could keep you out of the doctors office.
July 11, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Instead of eating out, take a little time in the kitchen and prepare meals at home. This will also lead to communication. No junk foods!!
Turn the TV off. Wait till movies are on DVD..The whole family can watch for less that the price of one admission. (The movie is just as good and the snacks are certainly cheaper!!And..we REALLY don’t have to see the movies when it is just out!)
Shop Discount stores, dollar stores, Walmart for children’s clothes, school supplies.. Use store brands instead of name brands. Plan shopping trips so that there is no back-tracking.
Cell phones for parents, not children.
Women can do their own hair and nails. Shop once a week, not every day.
Buy/rent a home within one’s income..
July 28, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Reduce your car insurance deductable.
July 28, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Sorry, I meant increase your car insurance deductable……
July 29, 2008 at 2:22 pm
How about paying off debt(get a second job), living on a budget and living within your means. The last thing you will be doing is worrying about gas prices.
August 2, 2008 at 5:00 pm
We sold our house moved into an APT saved ourselves $600 a month, we moved closer to our jobs another $250 savings on gas,we are living smaller.Sure has helped….
August 19, 2008 at 10:50 pm
We bought my husband a small car to drive to work. It worked so well, we traded in my 1 1/2 year old Durango for a new Ford Focus. Just drove the Kia 350 miles to Longview, TX and used just over 1/2 tank. My husband also carpools to work and I’m trying to find parents to carpool with to school.
Clip or print coupons. I’ve left stores where they have given me money for buying their items. You have to work the system, it works us enough. Good luck.
October 7, 2008 at 4:42 am
Well in addition to all these other great money saving tips, another thing you can do is make a list of all of your expenses, such as cell-phone for example, look at the current plan you have, and review the amount of minutes you’ve used for the past 2 months at least, if you don’t use that many minutes then reduce your rate plan, and ease up on the text/picture messaging unless it’s free for you allready.
Another thing like your internet/cable bill, it’s not absolutely neccessary for you to have the highest speed upgrade so reduce that to the basic, I went to the slower internet service option with my cable company and saved $35 per month. And I haven’t noticed a difference when surfing the Net. and for your cable try to see if you can reduce your cable package.
When you do use your AC/Heat close all of the door to the rooms, at least the bedrooms and the bathrooms, this will cause the rooms to become cooler or warmer much quicker, and the AC/Heat unit doesn’t have to run as long.
Also when grocery shopping try to buy store brand or generic brand, believe me, there is no noticeable difference in taste, that was my biggest worry, until I tried it, and it’s the same as the national name-brand.
October 8, 2008 at 10:12 am
when shopping for food make a list and stick to it i never realized how much junk i buy that i don’t really need untill i started making a list. I have also started taking my lunch to work , instead of eating out and have started drinking water(just get a proper filter on you sink)out of the faucet heck we already pay for it anyways, might as well use it.
October 11, 2008 at 10:44 am
Ifyou are stretching your dollars you may be damaging currency. In this economy we just cant afford to be so care less…. so yeah.
October 27, 2008 at 6:51 am
hi, Do something to help the hungry people in Africa and India,
I created this blog about them:
at http://tinyurl.com/5qlbzs
December 5, 2008 at 10:27 pm
i tried driving 55 mph on 35n and 35s ha! ha!. try to leave a couple of car lengths between cars,that is a joke and tried to be polite ran over is what you get.
people drive insane.
the speed limit is 70mph and people run 80-85mph.
where is the law,they could easly give a 1000 tickets daily.
January 12, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi there, i am a mom who is trying to strech that dollar through this harsh economy. I have down to earth tips, and links and sometimes i can catch some free stuff and deals.
I am always doing the serach , so you do not have to.
And for sure, every tip i write, is a tip i use on every day bases. Check it out here is my link
http://stretchyourdollar.today.com
thank you
January 24, 2009 at 3:45 pm
We pretty much make all our purchases online at one website to take advantage of the money we get back from our purchases or services. We’ll be taken advantage of the vacation voucher being given away and use the money we earned. We make and save on everything.
January 27, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Thanks for all of the great tips..just got a new house so I will be cking this site often.
January 30, 2009 at 1:41 pm
We are retired and rarely buy fresh bread from the grocery store. We make a trip about twice a month to the Mrs. Bread’s store and stock up on their day-old bread and other items. I freeze it all and save 50-60% off the retail price. They also have many other items besides bread. It’s a great savings.
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February 7, 2009 at 5:54 pm
ALL THE TIPS BY OTHERS ARE VERY HELPFUL AND RESOURCEFUL BUT, I DID NOT HEAR ANY ONE MENTION CUT BACK OF THE EXPENSIVE BAD HABITS THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE LIKE SMOKING, DRINKING AND OVEREATING THIS CAN BE EXPENSIVE AND ALSO LEAD TO HEALTH ISSUES AND A RIPPLING EFFECT. MONEY FOR MEDICINE DR. BILLS ETC. ALSO, WE NEED RAPID TRANSIT OR LIGHT RAIL IN SAN ANTONIO IT IS LONG OVER DUE! TOO MANY CARS TO MANY PEOPLE AND NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO MOVE AROUND. THIS WOULD SAVE GAS, TIME AND MONEY. I SEE A LOT OF TRUCKS AND SUVS AROUND HERE WITH ONLY ONE PERSON DRIVING. DO U REALLY NEED THESE WHEN U DONT HAVE A LARGE FAMILY? A CONSERVATIVE
February 7, 2009 at 5:58 pm
ONE MORE THING, IF U NEED IT GET IT, IF U WANT IT FORGET IT!
A CONSERVATIVE
March 3, 2009 at 4:23 am
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March 16, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Buy food from Angel Food Ministries. Good food and good prices.
March 18, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Just a reminder to help your camera man sam on his five dollar a day quest. Tomorrow as well as every thursday in march, chickfila is giving away a free breakfast item, & you dont have to make any other purchase. FYI, I saw this tip on yall’s newscast on friday the 6. So enjoy your freebie and good luck
March 18, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Generics have improved a lot since they were first introduced and often save you more money not to mention household clutter accumulated by clipping coupons. Instead of buying bottles of water, you buy a reusable water bottle, a faucet filter and bottle your own. Away from home you can refill this water bottle from the water fountains which give forth filtered water. A lot of hunger is actually thirst; make a point of remaining well-hydrated. Thoroughly quench your thirst before you eat, it’s a painless way to cut back on calories. When your doctor prescribes a new medication, chances are it’s an expensive new brand; ask him to call the pharmacist to recommend a generic equivalent. Fast food value meals may be smaller, but they are surprisingly filling and more satisfying because they remain hot and fresh to the last bite.
June 16, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Some soap pumps make it hard to use a tiny bit. Use pumps that allow you to use one drop, maybe two, that’s all you need. The actual scrubbing is the impt. thing!
Don’t use dust sprays. Use an old tshirt or diaper, soft cotton, get it damp and clean.
Shop with a friend or family member and split costs. My friend and I bought meat on sale, cut it up at home and froze it.
Stop drinking margaritas and wine. Losing weight and saving lots on that!